Which is Amateurs Over All[1]! And here’s our latest banner-waver, courtesy CNN:
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro on Monday said he was qualified to engage and disagree with Dr. Anthony Fauci on the use of an anti-malarial drug as a coronavirus treatment — which is not yet proven as effective — saying, “I’m a social scientist.”
“Doctors disagree about things all the time. My qualifications in terms of looking at the science is that I’m a social scientist,” he told CNN’s John Berman on “New Day.” “I have a Ph.D. And I understand how to read statistical studies, whether it’s in medicine, the law, economics or whatever.”
Navarro’s remarks follow reports that he clashed with officials in the Situation Room over the weekend about the unproven efficacy of hydroxychloroquine in treating coronavirus. While the task force was discussing the latest on the anti-malaria drug, an exasperated Navarro lashed out at Fauci, the nation’s top infectious disease expert, who has urged caution around the drug, a person familiar with the meeting told CNN.
Who knows, maybe hydroxychloroquine will turn out to be our savior. But Navarro’s attitude is telling. It’s the classic I know more than this clown and he spews out his credentials, which conveniently do not include any knowledge specific to the epidemiology field.
It reminds me of the VP of Marketing that was convinced that he could sell brooms just as easily as he could software. It’s a disease of ego. Navarro has his Ph.D. and he’s ready to ride it right over the cliff.
Let’s hope he’s right, since we know how to manufacture hydroxychloroquine and all about its side effects. But I won’t be investing in the manufacturer of it, whatever company that may be. So far, the evidence presented by the Administration is flimsy at best.
1 Of course, the top-rated theme is The Truth Doesn’t Matter!, but for the purposes of this post we’ll ignore that inconvenient little truth.
